1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for displaying a graphical user interface. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for displaying controls in a graphical user interface to display and control resource allocation by a data processing system.
2. Description of Related Art
The manipulation of data in a data processing system is well known in the prior art. Data may be manipulated in many ways in a modern state-of-the-art data processing system including: data accessing, data encoding, data communications, data compression, data conversion, data entry, data exchange, data filing, data linking, data locking, data manipulation, data mapping, data modeling, data processing, data recording, data sorting, and data transferring. The large amounts of data that are available to the user of a modern state-of-the-art data processing system often become overwhelming in magnitude and complexity. These situations may often arise in the creation or execution of multimedia presentations.
Data processing systems are capable of communicating information to users in many formats, including text, graphics, sounds, animated graphics, synthesized speech, and video. Multimedia presentations employ a data processing system to combine such information formats into a coherent and comprehensive presentation to the user.
As a result of the increasing complexity of data processing systems and with the introduction of multimedia presentations, attempts have been made to simplify the interface between a user and the large amounts of data present within a modern data processing system. One example of an attempt to simplify the interface between a user and a data processing system is the utilization of a so-called graphical user interface (GUI) to provide an intuitive and graphical interface between the user and the data processing system. A GUI is an interface system, including devices, by which a user interacts with a system, system components, and/or system applications via windows or view ports, icons, menus, pointing devices, etc.
The term xe2x80x9cmousexe2x80x9d, when utilized in this document, refers to any type of operating system supported graphical pointing device including, but not limited to, a mouse, track ball, light pen, touch screen, and the like. A pointing device is typically employed by a user of a data processing system to interact with the data processing system""s GUI. A xe2x80x9cpointerxe2x80x9d is an iconic image controlled by a mouse or other such devices, and is displayed on the video display device of a data processing system to visually indicate to the user icons, menus, or the like that may be selected or manipulated.
One use of GUIs is in the display of resources consumed within a data processing system. Presently available interfaces will display information to the user about available resources and resources that are being used. The presently available interfaces, however, are cumbersome and often times will use large amounts of the display in the data processing system. Further, if a user wishes to adjust the allocation of resources, the user often will have to use a different interface or a different control. Often times, these controls will require a user to enter a quantitative input in the form of a number to change an allocation of resources.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling the allocation of resources.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus in a data processing system for displaying resource allocation information. Allocations of a resource are identified. A plurality of geometric shapes, such as cylinders, is displayed, wherein each geometric shape within the plurality of geometric shape provides a graphical representation of an allocation of the resource relative to other geometric shapes within the plurality of geometric shapes.